Free Mistletoe & Hollywood by Natasha Boyd, Kate Roth Page B

forcing Jack to splinter apart his life and compartmentalize it even more? Making him feel, as Charlotte had suggested, emptier and emptier in his working life? If so, it was pretty much the most unfair thing I could do. And with all of his compartmentalizing, was it stopping him from becoming whole again, at peace with his past? We always connected perfectly in our sexual life, but was I really giving us a fair shot? I felt like coming here with Jack, meeting Max and supporting him in integrating a small part of his past life, was at least a step in the right direction.
    “I’m not seeking it out, and this sleepy coastal town hardly counts as going out in public… but…”
    Jack’s arm closed around me and pulled me close as we walked. “But?”
    “Maybe I’ve been a bit of a weirdo about it. I mean the sooner everyone gets used to seeing us together, the sooner it will become less of an issue. Not that they’ll take photos of you less, but perhaps I won’t feel like such a… specimen.”
    He laughed. “Yes, I do believe that’s what I told you. Anyway, you’ve been totally gracious every time they do get in our faces. I think you’ll find they can’t help falling in love with you. There hasn’t been one derogatory thing written about you since all the Audrey shit finally died down.”
    “How do you know? Do you look for stuff on me too?” I looked up from the stones beneath my feet.
    He looked down at me. “The publicist keeps tabs for me… And now for ‘us.’”
    “Huh.”
    “What’s huh?”
    “Look, Jack. I know you’ve been protecting me kind of, and I totally appreciate it.”
    “It’s for me too, you know. I don’t relish being fodder all the time either.”
    “I know, but let me finish.” I smiled at him. “I appreciate you protecting me, it’s what you promised to do. But perhaps it’s making you feel like you’re… kind of ‘on your own’ out there, while I sit safely in your non-movie life.”
    We stopped walking and turned to each other, and I looped my arms around his waist. “You’ve made a lot of changes for me, and perhaps I haven’t made as many for you.”
    Jack’s brow furrowed as his green eyes searched my face.
    “You said some things last night—”
    “I was drunk, I’m sorry.” Jack’s hand came up and raked through his hair.
    “Don’t be. I know this stuff has been on your mind, and maybe getting a bit wasted last night, helped you talk to me about how you were feeling.”
    “I was feeling horny.” He chuckled.
    I shook my head with a small grin. “You’re incorrigible. But you were also feeling like you were the only one whose been fighting for us.”
    “It was a stupid thing to say. Again, I’m sorry.”
    “It wasn’t a stupid thing to say. At all.”
     

     
    MAX TURNED OUT to be totally charming and down to earth. He had a kind, rounded, but very handsome face and was quick to smile and laugh. We joined him in a small screened off dining area at the back of the light-filled restaurant called Pier Nine. It was a beautiful space with original wood floors and lofty ceilings. “Classic Victorian elegance meets cool contemporary beach-chic,” Max proudly intoned. The Christmas tree in one corner consisted of graduating lengths of driftwood stacked one on top of the other and draped with painted shells and white lights. It was exactly my style. I ran my mouth asking Max all about the operating of a small hotel/restaurant establishment.
    The food, a modern take on fish and chips, was delicious, and despite being not all that hungry, Jack and I stuffed ourselves.
    It was obvious Max thought the world of Jack, and confided to me over a lingering dessert of Spotted Dick —I left that one alone—and coffee, that William Huntley had been his best friend, and he’d never quite had another friend like him after Jack left school so suddenly at nine years old. Jack had swallowed heavily next to me and flushed along the tops of his cheekbones, but he